Monmouth Community Rallies to Buy Classroom Technology

Despite suburban school budget constraints, a Monmouth County community rallies to raise money to add more technology to local classrooms. The nearly twenty-year-old Education Foundation of Little Silver (EFLS) raised $65,000 this year through a talent competition. Foundation President Kelly Cullen said they were able to fill the wish list of teachers and students.

"So this year, we purchased some Smart Boards for some of the classrooms and some stylus' they use to write on those Smart Boards. We bought some chromebooks, some digital voice recorders, some camcorders, a big set of wireless mice and then these really cool NXT Intelligent Bricks, which are used to build intelligence machines or robots for some of the technology teachers and then we were also able gift both schools some other specific smaller items," Cullen said.

Cullen said the state-of-the-art equipment purchased for the Point Road Elementary and Markham Place Middle Schools helps to keep the kids current on technology and opens up new avenues for them.

"These kids are not just learning about building robots and learning about technology and engineering. They actually have the chance in the classroom to build things," she explained.

According to the EFLS press release, the main goal for the 2014-2015 school year is to substantially increase community fundraising. They've launched a program where the community can directly fund a specific item on-line that a teacher is requesting.

"So let's say the third graders teacher wants an iPad for the classroom. We're going to be able to tell people if you want to help fund that iPad for the third graders, you can put money toward that here," Cullen explained.

The EFLS celebrates its 20th Anniversary next year. They'll be holding an event on Friday, March 6th at the Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch. Get more information at EFLS.ORG.